The Arctic Ocean is located in the Arctic,in its central part. The land surrounds it almost from all sides. This, mainly, determines the characteristics of its natural conditions: climate, hydrological factors. The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of all the oceans on the planet.
The boundaries of the water area run from the Scandinavianpeninsula to the Faroe and Shetland Islands, the Bering, Davis and Danish straits. Through these straits the Arctic Ocean communicates with the Pacific and Atlantic.
The coast line is quite strongdismemberment. The seas of the Arctic Ocean occupy half of the entire water area. There are nine in total. The largest is the Norwegian, and the smallest is the White Sea. There are a lot of island archipelagos and independent solitary islands in the water area.
Порядка половины всей площади дна занимает шельф.On the shores of Eurasia, the shelf zone is very special and extends to many hundreds of kilometers. In the bed of the ocean there are several hollows, which are separated by underwater ridges. The main component of the bottom relief is the Haeckel ridge, which continues the Mid-Atlantic ridge. There is also the rise of Mendeleev, Lomonosov, Chukchi.
Северный Ледовитый океан богат россыпными deposits of heavy metals (tin and others). Bottom sediments in the shelf zone are formed by river deposits. More than fifty deposits of gas and oil have been found here, some of which are beginning to be developed.
The polar position occupied by the NorthernThe Arctic Ocean has an impact on the characteristics of its climate. Over the water area, arctic air masses are formed and prevail throughout the year. In winter, the average air temperature drops to forty degrees, in summer the figure is close to zero. During the polar day, due to the ability of ice to reflect most of the sun's radiation, the climate becomes sterner. The amount of precipitation, which falls over the ocean during the year, ranges from one hundred to two hundred millimeters.
The Arctic Ocean is quite powerfulflow of warm water. Moving to the east and to the north, the denser and salty waters of the warm current sink under not such salty, but cold waters. This stream is part of the North Atlantic Current. The transarctic current carries ice and polar waters to the Atlantic through the Danish strait. This movement is directed from east to west, from the East Siberian and Chukchi Sea.
The existing hydrological regime and life in theThe ocean is preserved due to thermal and water exchange with the nearby oceans. In the water masses, the constant supply of heat is maintained by the influx of Atlantic waters. Increases the temperature and reduces the salinity of a significant river flow from the territory of North America and Eurasia. During a significant part of the year the surface water temperature is low and approaches the freezing point (with the available salinity), minus one to two degrees. In summer, the temperature rises to five or eight degrees above zero only in subarctic latitudes.
Ice exists here all year round.This is a characteristic feature of the oceanic nature. The most common pack is a multi-year ice, the thickness of which is from two to four meters and more. During the winter, more ice forms than melts during the summer; The excess is carried to the Atlantic Ocean.
The basis of the biological mass of the water area consists ofcold-tolerant diatoms. They are common both on ice and in the water itself. In the Atlantic area, phyto- and zooplankton is widespread, and there are bottom algae. In the ocean and the sea live commercial fish species (halibut, navaga, cod and others). Walruses, polar bears, seals, and beluga are common in mammals.
